Well OKeee Started a 7:30 this morning, Sterilizing, milk out of the fridge gettin the chill off, setting up my double boiler.Started heating the milk about 8:40, temp started at 55º F, reached 74º F, at 9:10 and sprinkled the MM 100 on the top let sit till 9:20, stirred in culture temp was 77º F and started the 3 hour wait. Checked the temp about an hour in, it had reached 78º F, took it out of the double boiler and will wait it out till it is time to warm up to 92º F for the TA 61-62 about another hour and a half to go.

We finished it up yesterday, heated to 92º F sprinkled in then stirred to mix the TA and let it ripen for 30 min. added the rennet.I had one of the fastest flok time's ever, never had one faster than 13 min and no more than 16 min on any cheese, this one was 8 min, I did add just a little more rennet than normal wanted the faster time but surprised me when it went off so quick cut the curd let it rest, started heating it up to 102º F and stirring constantly till it hit target temp drained, slapped it in the press inside a pot that was inside a pot with hot water and wrapped that with a heating pad and towel, pressed at 105 lbs. for one hour, took it out broke it up, tossed with 2 heaping table spoons of pickling salt (as fast as I could, didn't want to loose the heat) back into the mold and pressed at 160 lbs. (3 lbs/sq.in) for two hours, still heating the pot. removed, re-wrapped, back in the heated pot pressed for 4 hours with 240 lbs. (4.5 lbs/sq.in) removed, re-wrapped, flipped, replaced in press, pressed at 375 lbs. (7+ lbs/sq.in) over night At first I was worried about how it was going to knit, not to worry, Being my first try at any cheddar I am happy with the way it went and as usual I had my freak-out time, yet all-in-all I think it went fairly well

What is happening with the heating wrap and blanket is in a thread Sailor started, explaining why and what for just a precaution I was taking to make sure the curd would knit after milling.Go to this link Sailor explains it better than I can; A New Technique For Pressing Cheddar (Thank you Sailor) It works fantastic.

I pressed with the heat for the first hour then milled the curd as the recipe required and salted as fast as possible so I wouldn't have to much loss of heat.then pressed in the heated pot for two hours redressed and flipped and pressed again with heat for two more hours then flipped and pressed naked for one hour, then flipped and pressed overnight 14 hours.It looks good one side has some obvious but very small cracks, like I say it has been drying for 5 days, feels dry,hopefully the added time in the heated pot didn't do anything bad now I wonder if it is time to vacuum bag and start the ageing process at 50 to 55 deg?

Probably not...am pretty sure your humidity is higher than ours is and your cheese is twice the size of the ones I make. Looks really good!Does the cheese have a little give to it when you press on it with your thumb?

Very nice looking! I have not mastered the smooth knit yet, but I am progressing. My best knits to date are my gouda and colby...the cheddars are still challenging me. I recently added a cast iron pot to my pressing operation with some success...I heated the pot and then pressed the forms inside the pot, covered with a towel to help maintain the heat.